On our first caravan adventure I noticed when I was putting the beds away that the cushions felt a little damp, this is where they meet the caravan wall at both ends. The van doesn't suffer from any dampness/water ingress it has been fully damp tested twice in the last 3 weeks and is damp free.
I guess that this is some kind of condensation but the outside temperature was 10 degrees plus all night so it wasn't a particularly cold night. We didn't have any heating on in the van overnight.
Just wondering if this is usual, maybe it is the colder air coming up from under the seats meeting warmer air or it could be just condensation running down the walls and being soaked up by the cushions below, although no condensaion was visible.
We had the same issue on our first night. We had a Bailey Ranger 550/6 then. After speaking to the dealer that morning we kept the curtain back slightly at each en to let the air circulate. No problems really after that.
------------- Michael
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I had the same thing in my demountable romahome campervan. I solved the problem by leaving a small gap to circulate the air at the roof vent down at the other end. It seemed to be warm air cooling and condensing onto the windows, then running down the windows and walls onto the seats at night. What also helped was that I made some internal 'silver screens' from Wilkinson's car window insulation screens (like silver sided bubble wrap) and stuck these onto the windows at night, which helped a great deal.
If you can, get the seats dry during the day and give them an airing outside (if you get any sunshine) as that drying out, plus the breathing you do whilst asleep keeps up the vicious circle.
I remeber when I was young my parents had a 1977 monza and I think they combated the same problem by using black bin bags to insulate the side of the bed cushions at night.
when i built my mini artic conversion i covered some thin ply in the same material as the seats . this goes behind the backrests .when its made as a bed you have a material around the bed .
i also did the same around the permanent bed .looks good and stops that happening and warm if you lay against it
Leave your windows on the very small ventilation setting that will help, check you are not blocking any vents as the damp air from breathing needs to circulate and escape, ensure when cooking or boiling the kettle you have good ventilation so the steam can escape
------------- Live life to the full you are a long time dead
On my abi there is like a false wall behind the seat cushions so that they never touch the outside wall etc, its just some thin battens upright and thin ply.
I've also don't this to our new/old caravan.
Even with this ventilation is a must, if you have any condensation on the windows in the morning make sure you open the windows and door untill it is completely dry , if you don't the moisture level will just keep rising.
you could try to stop breathing .this will cure the condensation problem right away .other than that open some windows a crack to let the air circulate
Quote: Originally posted by the black fox on 28/6/2013
you could try to stop breathing .this will cure the condensation problem right away .other than that open some windows a crack to let the air circulate
Trouble is of course is that through the night you want to keep the heat in, so air circulation is limited, but making sure everything is dried out through the day lowers the amount of moisture build up through the night.
With out the moisture we end up with a dry cough which is no good.
It's a disadvantage of sleeping on foam mattress/cushions. The air cannot circulate through the mattress like it can in a sprung mattress, so moisture from sweat and breath will build up